The news that Christopher Wallace (The Notorious B.I.G). is to be the subject of a musical biopic - a genre in vogue with Hollywood;with recent films about Bob Dylan, Ian Curtis, Johnny Cash, and Ray Charles and films about Jeff Buckley and Marvin Gaye are seemingly 'in development' - is not really surprising. A multi-million dollar earning recording artist who was murdered in the murkiest of circumstances and whose case is still a source of controversy is an obvious one for the Hollywood treatment.
What is surprising is that the New York Times can write an article on the forthcoming movie without mentioning Nick Broomfield's Biggie & Tupac; the documentary that did so much to force open the investigation into Biggie and Tupac's deaths. Broomfield's documentary is a remarkable exercise in the representation of reality and as with all of Broomfield's work extremely engaging (Reviews - BBC, Channel 4, Sight & Sound, New York Times).
The opportunity to contrast Broomfield's documentary treatment with the Hollywood version is going to allow for some interesting comment on genres of truth telling.
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